Systems, methods, and devices for cellular network-assisted low cost opportunistic social networking

ABSTRACT

A communication method, the method comprising: establishing, by a first devive, a wireless device-to-device connection; receiving, by the first device, one or more core contents of a social network via a wireless network; and transferring, by the first device, the one or more core contents of the social network via the wireless device-to-device connection.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/883,127, entitled “ADVANCED WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS AND TECHNIQUES,” filed on Sep. 26, 2013, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments described herein generally relate to systems, methods, and devices for social networking.

BACKGROUND

Social networking and mobile communication propel the growth of each other. The coupling of the two industries is ever increasing. On the one hand, the demand on social networking contributes to the rapid growth of mobile communication traffic and triggers the populous of smart communication devices. On the other hand, improvement in mobile communication service quality makes social networking more accessible with good user experience. It is therefore of high interests for the two industries to make joint efforts towards providing universally wireless connected social networking service with good quality of service, user experience and system efficiency.

As social networking services require universal user coverage, always-on connection and frequent timely content updates, key challenges in supporting social networking type communication include (1) costs (e.g., cost of using wireless communication service, cost of smart devices), (2) energy consumption (e.g., device battery life) and (3) user experience (e.g., timely content update, high speed uploading/downloading).

The current efforts in attempting to address the above challenges are either conducted by social networking service provider or communication infrastructure/device vendor. For example, Facebook tries to address the problem by improving its data center efficiency and mobile apps. The proposed solutions, however, either rely on information technology or communication technology. There is a lack of an efficient system-wide solution.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a communication system, according to one or more example embodiments;

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a communication system, according to one or more example embodiments;

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a communication device, according to one or more example embodiments;

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a communication method, according to one or more example embodiments; and

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a communication method, according to one or more example embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings is provided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of embodiments of the disclosure as defined by the claims and their equivalents. It includes various specific details to assist in that understanding but these are to be regarded as merely exemplary. Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that various changes and modifications of the embodiments described herein can be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the disclosure. In addition, descriptions of well-known functions and constructions may be omitted for clarity and conciseness.

The terms used in the following description and claims are not limited to their dictionary meanings, but, are merely used to enable a clear and consistent understanding of the disclosure. Accordingly, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the following description of embodiments of the present disclosure is provided for illustration purpose only and not for the purpose of limiting the disclosure as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

It is to be understood that the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Thus, for example, reference to “a component surface” includes reference to one or more of such surfaces.

Hereinafter, the term “substantially” means that the recited characteristic, parameter, or value need not be achieved exactly, but that deviations or variations, including for example, tolerances, measurement error, measurement accuracy limitations and other factors known to those of skill in the art, may occur in amounts that do not preclude the effect the characteristic was intended to provide.

The terms “communication station”, “station”, “handheld device”, “communication device”, “wireless device” and “user equipment” (UE), as used herein, refer to a wireless communication device such as a cellular telephone, smartphone, tablet, netbook, wireless terminal, laptop computer, a wearable computer device, a femtocell, High Data Rate (HDR) subscriber station, access point, access terminal, or other personal communication system (PCS) device. The device may be either mobile or stationary.

The term “access point” (AP) as used herein may be a fixed station. An access point may also be referred to as an access node, a base station or some other similar terminology known in the art. An access terminal may also be called a mobile station, a user equipment (UE), a wireless communication device or some other similar terminology known in the art. Embodiments disclosed herein generally pertain to wireless networks.

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide numerous technical effects and unobvious solutions over conventional solutions. For example, some embodiments provide, for example, a cellular network-assisted very low-cost opportunistic social networking system, which may involve a social networking service provider, a network infrastructure vendor, and a communication device vendor. According to one example embodiment cellular air time may be used for notifications/updates, low cost Wi-Fi may be used for individual media uploading/downloading, and one or more device-to-device (D2D) connections may be used for content distribution (e.g. media, ads, apps).

According to one or more example embodiments, Device-to-device (D2D) communication may enable direct communication between nearby mobiles using next-generation cellular networks. It may facilitate the interoperability between critical public safety networks and ubiquitous commercial networks based on e.g. LTE. In principle, exploiting direct communication between nearby communication devices may improve spectrum utilization, overall throughput, and energy efficiency, while enabling new peer-to-peer and location-based applications and services. D2D-enabled LTE devices can have the potential to become competitive for fallback public safety networks that must function when cellular networks are not available or fail.

It was found that D2D mobiles enjoy much higher data rates than regular cellular mobiles due to the short range of communications. Cellular mobiles may also benefit from D2D as D2D can help offload traffic from congested cellular networks. From a coverage perspective, we revealed an interesting tradeoff between D2D spectrum access and mode selection: as more potential D2D mobiles use direct communication mode, the network should actually make less spectrum available to them to limit their interference.

A D2D-enabled cellular network may be created where downlink resources are either partitioned or shared between D2D and downlink cellular transmissions. To maximize the total throughput, D2D links with more traffic to transmit should be more aggressive in their spectrum access, despite the interference this generates to the rest of the network. In a heavily loaded network, the total throughput benefits from offloading local traffic to D2D mode, as D2D communication only requires “1” hop while relaying via a BS requires “2” hops. The choice of dedicated and shared approaches depends on the D2D traffic and the resource partition in dedicated networks. The dedicated approach may achieve larger throughput in a network with many short-range D2D links and optimal resource partition.

Referring to FIG. 1, an example illustrative embodiment of a system 100 including a communication device cluster is depicted and generally designated 150. The communication device cluster 150 can include two or more communication devices 102. In at least one embodiment, the communication device cluster 150 can use Bluetooth communication, device-to-device (D2D) LTE communication, social Wi-Fi communication, Wi-Fi Direct, or Neighbor-Awareness Networking (NAN) protocols, or can be a subset of a NAN cluster.

Although the communication device cluster 150 is illustrated as including four communication devices in FIG. 1, the communication device cluster 150 may include more than four devices or fewer than four devices. The communication devices of the communication device cluster 150 may be configured to communicate wirelessly according to one or more wireless communication protocols. For example, the communication devices 102 of the communication device cluster 150 may send and receive discovery messages, such as beacons in connection with an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 or Wi-Fi Alliance protocol. The Wi-Fi Alliance is currently in development of two different certifications, one of which is Neighbor Awareness Networking (NAN) certification addressing low power device and service discovery over Wi-Fi.

In this context, a protocol may refer to parameters used to communicate, such as a channel on which communications occur, timing of communications (e.g., timing of discovery intervals), etc. In another example, the communication devices of the communication device cluster 150 may also communicate data, such as data associated with a particular application that is common to each communication device of the communication device cluster 150.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, system 100 may include a core network 124 and an access network 126 including the communication device cluster 150, among other things. As illustrated in the core network 124, an example social networking service provider may segregate its social networking content into two or more classes in support of the very low end devices. For example, one or more social networking content servers 112 may segregate the social networking content into core contents 114, and individual content 116, for example. Upon segregation, core contents 114 may be time-stamped or sequence numbered to ease distribution of content through the network. Core contents 114 may be distributed through Wi-Fi, device-to-device communication, or free cellular air time (e.g. paid by ads), individual contents 116 may be distributed through a cellular network, and media contents may be distributed through WiFi/small cells, for example. According to one example embodiment, the social networking service provider may maximize its “core content” by moving most of the core functionality of the app into core content 114. Since a social networking service provider may want to generate additional revenue by selling ads, the low/no cost way for content distribution may be attractive to any social networking service provider.

One or more communication devices 102 may be connected to a cellular network 122, such as for example, a LTE, 4G, 3G, or 2G network, which may be provided by a network service provider. One or more communication devices may be able to connect to base station 108 through the cellular network 122, for example. On the network infrastructure side, base station 108 may cache social networking service provider's core content 114 and/or individual content 116, and keep them updated from time to time. This may need base station 108 to have storage capabilities. According to one example embodiment, the base station 108 may include one or more storage devices or servers 110, which may serve as local cache for example, for storing social networking service provider's core content 114 and/or individual content 116.

Similarly, the one or more communication devices 102 may be connected to an access point (AP) 104 via a wireless local area network (WLAN), for example, which may be provided by a network service provider. On the network infrastructure side, access point 104 may also cache social networking service provider's core content 114 and/or individual content 116, and keep them updated from time to time. This may need access point 104 to have storage capabilities. According to one example embodiment, the access point 104 may include one or more storage devices or servers 106, which may serve as local cache for example, for storing social networking service provider's core content 114 and/or individual content 116.

Dotted lines 120 may represent distribution of individual content 116, for example, and solid lines 118 may represent distribution of core contents 114, for example. On the user equipment (UE) or communication device side, the one or more communication devices 102 may support one or more functions including Wi-Fi and cellular air interface, and include a reasonable local cache size. Because social networking type communication is not relatively media intensive, the add-on cache may not be a cost burden to the end user.

Turning now to FIG. 2, shown is a system 200 for low cost opportunistic social networking, according to one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure. The system 200 may include a first device 202 which may be configured to establish a wireless device-to-device connection 206 with a second device 204. The first device 200 may receive one or more core contents 208, 210 of a social network via a wireless network, for example the cellular network or Wi-Fi network described above. Core contents may include, for example, the social networking app, the basic user interface including features from the app 208 and other elements, such as for example, banner ads 210, which may be sponsored by advertisers, for example. Additionally, the first device 200 may receive one or more individual contents 212 of the social network via a wireless network, for example the cellular network or Wi-Fi network described above. Individual contents 212 may include, for example, user information including user profile picture, name, location, and other user specific information, for example, posts posted by the user's social network friends. According to one example embodiment, first device 202 may transfer the one or more core contents of the social network via the wireless device-to-device connection 206 to the second device 204. Using the existing D2D connection, device 204 may be able to side-load core contents 216, 218 of the social network, without the need to connect to the cellular network or the WLAN. Side-loading may refer to a process of transferring data between two or more local devices, for example.

The second device 204 may receive one or more individual contents 214 of the social network via the wireless network. In another embodiment, the first device 202 may receive one or more individual contents 214 of the social network via the wireless network, and transfer the one or more individual contents 214 of the social network to the second device 204 via the wireless device-to-device connection 206. The wireless network may be a cellular network or a wireless local may be a network (WLAN) as described above. The wireless device-to-device connection may be a long term evolution (LTE) device-to-device connection, a Bluetooth device-to-device connection or a Wi-Fi neighbor awareness networking (NAN) connection, for example.

According to one or more example embodiments, communication devices 202 and 204 may include an acceleration button to enable a user to override the default opportunistic networking operation described above. For example, when the acceleration button is pushed, all data transfer can go through the cellular link, however, the user may have to pay for the cellular traffic. In another example embodiment, communication devices 202 and 204 may include a side-loading timer. For example, if there is no opportunity for side-loading using the D2D connection for a predefined period of time, then the communication device 204 may directly download either full or selected core contents 216, 218. Additionally, communication devices 202 and 204 may include a switch to disable side-loading using D2D to preserve battery life. In one example embodiment, the communication devices 202 and 204 may set a battery power threshold, below which the communication device 202, 204 may stop D2D communication. Although the present disclosure describes various features with respect to buttons and switches above, it may be understood by one of skill in the art that such buttons and switches may be virtual in nature, and may be implemented using a software program, for example.

According to one or more example embodiments, the user of the communication device 202, 204 may have an option to select different level of user experience. For example, the user may opt to have just text portions of the core content and/or individual content to be side-loaded using the D2D connection. In other embodiments, the user may opt for rich media to be side-loaded, or a combination thereof. According to one example embodiment, the users may be awarded, for example, in terms of credits or priority or more bandwidth, for motivating the user to share core contents and/or individual contents using D2D. As described above, the wireless network may be a cellular network or a wireless local may be a network (WLAN) as described above. The wireless device-to-device connection may be a long term evolution (LTE) device-to-device connection, a Bluetooth device-to-device connection or a Wi-Fi neighbor awareness networking (NAN) connection, for example.

Turning now to FIG. 3, shown is a schematic block diagram of a wireless communication device 300 in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure. The communication device 300 may include at least one processor circuit, for example, having one or more processor(s) 302 and one or more memories 306, both of which may be coupled to a local interface 304. The communication device 300 may include a cellular interface (or device) 312 such as, e.g., an LTE interface (or device) and one or more wireless interfaces (or devices) 314 including, e.g., Bluetooth interface (or device), all of which may be coupled to the local interface 304. The cellular interface (or device) 312 may include processing circuitry for supporting cellular communications such as, e.g., LTE, 2G, 3G, 4G, WiMAX, WCDMA, HSDPA, WLAN or other wireless communication protocols. The wireless interface(s) (or device(s)) 314 include processing circuitry for supporting wireless communications such as, e.g., Bluetooth (Bluetooth), IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n, near field communication (NFC), global positioning system (GPS)/global navigation satellite system (GNSS), neighbor awareness networking (NaN) and/or other wireless communication protocols.

In various embodiments, the processing circuitry is implemented as at least a portion of a microprocessor. The processing circuitry may be implemented using one or more circuits, one or more microprocessors, application specific integrated circuits, dedicated hardware, digital signal processors, microcomputers, central processing units, field programmable gate arrays, programmable logic devices, state machines, or any combination thereof. In yet other embodiments, the processing circuitry may include one or more software modules executable within one or more processing circuits. The processing circuitry may further include memory configured to store instructions and/or code that causes the processing circuitry to execute data communication functions. In some cases, portions of the cellular interface (or device) 312 and/or wireless interface(s) (or device(s)) 314 may be implemented by processor 302 via local interface 304. The local interface 304 may include, for example, a data bus with an accompanying address/control bus or other bus structure as can be appreciated.

Stored in the memory 306 are both data and several components that are executable by the processor 302 and/or by processing circuitry of the cellular interface (or device) 312 and/or wireless interface(s) (or device(s)) 314. In particular, stored in the memory 306 and executable by the processor 302 may be a set of instructions, for example, executable by the processors 302 to communicate with one or more devices, and one or more applications 310, for example, a communication device social networking application. In addition, an operating system may be stored in the memory 306 and executable by the processor 302. In some embodiments, the cellular interface (or device) 312 and/or wireless interface(s) (or device(s)) 314 may include memory for storing the instructions 308. In some cases, the processor 302 and memory 306 may be integrated as a system-on-a-chip.

It is understood that there may be other applications that are stored in the memory and are executable by the processor 302, the cellular interface (or device) 312 and/or wireless interface(s) (or device(s)) 314 as can be appreciated. A number of software components may be stored in the memory and executable by the processor 302, the cellular interface (or device) 312 and/or wireless interface(s) (or device(s)) 314. In this respect, the term “executable” means a program file that is in a form that can ultimately be run by the processor 302, the cellular interface (or device) 312 and/or wireless interface(s) (or device(s)) 314. Examples of executable programs may be, for example, a compiled program that can be translated into machine code in a format that can be loaded into a random access portion of the memory 306 and run by the processor 302, source code that may be expressed in proper format such as object code that is capable of being loaded into a random access portion of the memory 306 and executed by the processor 302, or source code that may be interpreted by another executable program to generate instructions in a random access portion of the memory 306 to be executed by the processor 302, etc. An executable program may be stored in any portion or component of the memory including, for example, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), hard drive, solid-state drive, USB flash drive, memory card, optical disc such as compact disc (CD) or digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk, magnetic tape, or other memory components.

The memory is defined herein as including both volatile and nonvolatile memory and data storage components. Volatile components are those that do not retain data values upon loss of power. Nonvolatile components are those that retain data upon a loss of power. Thus, the memory 806 may include, for example, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), hard disk drives, solid-state drives, USB flash drives, memory cards accessed via a memory card reader, floppy disks accessed via an associated floppy disk drive, optical discs accessed via an optical disc drive, magnetic tapes accessed via an appropriate tape drive, and/or other memory components, or a combination of any two or more of these memory components. In addition, the RAM may include, for example, static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), or magnetic random access memory (MRAM) and other such devices. The ROM may include, for example, a programmable read-only memory (PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or other like memory device.

Also, the processor 302 may represent multiple processors 302 and the memory 306 may represent multiple memories 306 that operate in parallel processing circuits, respectively. In such a case, the local interface 304 may be an appropriate network that facilitates communication between any two of the multiple processors 302, between any processor 302 and any of the memories 306, or between any two of the memories 306, etc. The local interface 304 may include additional systems designed to coordinate this communication, including, for example, performing load balancing. The processor 302 may be of electrical or of some other available construction.

Although the instructions 308, and other various systems described herein may be embodied in software or code executed by general purpose hardware, as an alternative the same may also be embodied in dedicated hardware or a combination of software/general purpose hardware and dedicated hardware. If embodied in dedicated hardware, each can be implemented as a circuit or state machine that employs any one of or a combination of a number of technologies. These technologies may include, but are not limited to, discrete logic circuits having logic gates for implementing various logic functions upon an application of one or more data signals, application specific integrated circuits having appropriate logic gates, or other components, etc. Such technologies are generally well known by those skilled in the art and, consequently, are not described in detail herein.

Based on the foregoing it should be apparent that the exemplary embodiments of this disclosure provide a method, apparatus and computer program(s) to provide enhanced in-device coexistence for a user device that operates with a cellular network, such as the LTE network.

Included herein is a set of logic flows representative of example methodologies for performing novel aspects of the disclosed architecture. While, for purposes of simplicity of explanation, the one or more methodologies shown herein are shown and described as a series of acts, those skilled in the art will understand and appreciate that the methodologies are not limited by the order of acts. Some acts may, in accordance therewith, occur in a different order and/or concurrently with other acts from that shown and described herein. For example, those skilled in the art will understand and appreciate that a methodology could alternatively be represented as a series of interrelated states or events, such as in a state diagram. Moreover, not all acts illustrated in a methodology may be required for a novel implementation.

A logic flow may be implemented in software, firmware, and/or hardware. In software and firmware embodiments, a logic flow may be implemented by computer executable instructions stored on at least one non-transitory computer readable medium or machine readable medium, such as an optical, magnetic or semiconductor storage. The embodiments are not limited in this context.

Also, any logic or application described herein, including the instructions 308 that includes software or code can be embodied in any non-transitory computer-readable medium for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system such as, for example, a processor 302 in a computer system or other system. In this sense, the logic may include, for example, statements including instructions and declarations that can be fetched from the computer-readable medium and executed by the instruction execution system. In the context of the present disclosure, a “computer-readable medium” can be any medium that can contain, store, or maintain the logic or application described herein for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system.

The computer-readable medium can include any one of many physical media such as, for example, magnetic, optical, or semiconductor media. More specific examples of a suitable computer-readable medium would include, but are not limited to, magnetic tapes, magnetic floppy diskettes, magnetic hard drives, memory cards, solid-state drives, USB flash drives, or optical discs. Also, the computer-readable medium may be a random access memory (RAM) including, for example, static random access memory (SRAM) and dynamic random access memory (DRAM), or magnetic random access memory (MRAM). In addition, the computer-readable medium may be a read-only memory (ROM), a programmable read-only memory (PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or other type of memory device.

It should be appreciated that the example device 300 shown in the block diagram of FIG. 3 may represent one functionally descriptive example of many potential implementations. Accordingly, division, omission or inclusion of block functions depicted in the accompanying figures does not infer that the hardware components, circuits, software and/or elements for implementing these functions would be necessarily divided, omitted, or included in the embodiments.

Moving now to FIG. 4, one example embodiment is a communication method 400 between two or more communication devices. The method may include the operation 401 of establishing, by a first device, a wireless device-to-device connection with a second device. It should be noted, however, that the incoming content may trigger the D2D connection with the assistance of the infrastructure network in some cases, for example. The method may also include the operation 402 of receiving, by the first device, one or more core contents of a social network via a wireless network. The method may also include the operation 403 of transferring, by the first device, the one or more core contents of the social network via the wireless device-to-device connection to the second device, for example. The method may also include receiving, by the second device connected to the first device via the device-to-device connection, the one or more core contents of the social network from the first device. The method may also include receiving, by the second device, one or more individual contents of the social network directly via the wireless network. According to one example embodiment, the method may include receiving, by the first device, one or more individual contents of the social network via the wireless network, and transferring the one or more individual contents of the social network from the first device to the second device via the wireless device-to-device connection. As described in the above example embodiments, the wireless network may be a cellular network or a wireless local may be a network (WLAN). The wireless device-to-device connection may be a long term evolution (LTE) device-to-device connection, a Bluetooth device-to-device connection or a Wi-Fi neighbor awareness networking (NAN) connection.

FIG. 5 illustrates operations involved in another example communication method 500 between two or more communication devices. According to one or more example embodiments, these communication devices may include an acceleration button to enable a user to override the default opportunistic networking operation described above. For example, when the acceleration button is pushed, all data transfer can go through the cellular link, however, the user may have to pay for the cellular traffic. For example, in operation 501 the first device may establish a wireless device-to-device connection. In operation 502, the first device may check to see if the user has selected acceleration. If the acceleration mode is selected, then the device may receive one or more core contents of the social network directly from a wireless network in operation 503. However, if the acceleration mode is not selected by the user, then the device may receive one or more core contents of the social network via a wireless D2D connection, for example. The wireless network may be a cellular network or a wireless local may be a network (WLAN). The wireless device-to-device connection may be a long term evolution (LTE) device-to-device connection, a Bluetooth device-to-device connection or a Wi-Fi neighbor awareness networking (NAN) connection.

In another example embodiment, communication devices may include a side-loading timer. For example, if there is no opportunity for side-loading using the D2D connection for a predefined period of time, then the communication device may directly download either full or selected core contents. Additionally, communication devices may include a switch to disable side-loading using D2D to preserve battery life. In one example embodiment, the communication devices may set a battery power threshold, below which the communication device may stop D2D communication. Although the present disclosure describes various features with respect to buttons and switches above, it may be understood by one of skill in the art that such buttons and switches may be virtual in nature, and may be implemented using a software program, for example.

Although the flowchart of FIGS. 4 and 5 show a specific order of execution, it is understood that the order of execution may differ from that which is depicted. For example, the order of execution of two or more blocks may be scrambled relative to the order shown. Also, two or more blocks shown in succession in FIGS. 4 and 5 may be executed concurrently or with partial concurrence. Further, in some embodiments, one or more of the blocks shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 may be skipped or omitted. In addition, any number of counters, state variables, warning semaphores, or messages might be added to the logical flow described herein, for purposes of enhanced utility, accounting, performance measurement, or providing troubleshooting aids, etc. It is understood that all such variations are within the scope of the present disclosure.

Some examples may be described using the expression “in one example” or “an example” along with their derivatives. These terms mean that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the example is included in at least one example. The appearances of the phrase “in one example” in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same example.

Some examples may be described using the expression “coupled”, “connected”, or “capable of being coupled” along with their derivatives. These terms are not necessarily intended as synonyms for each other. For example, descriptions using the terms “connected” and/or “coupled” may indicate that two or more elements are in direct physical or electrical contact with each other. The term “coupled,” however, may also mean that two or more elements are not in direct contact with each other, but yet still co-operate or interact with each other.

It is emphasized that the Abstract of the disclosure is provided will allow the reader to quickly ascertain the nature of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. In addition, in the foregoing Detailed Description, it can be seen that various features are grouped together in a single example for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed examples require more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than all features of a single disclosed example. Thus the following claims are hereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claim standing on its own as a separate example. In the appended claims, the terms “including” and “in which” are used as the plain-English equivalents of the respective terms “including” and “wherein,” respectively. Moreover, the terms “first,” “second,” “third,” and so forth, are used merely as labels, and are not intended to impose numerical requirements on their objects.

Although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

While there have been shown, described and pointed out, fundamental novel features of the disclosure as applied to the exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changes in the form and details of devices illustrated, and in their operation, may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the disclosure. Moreover, it is expressly intended that all combinations of those elements and/or method operations, which perform substantially the same function in substantially the same way to achieve the same results, are within the scope of the disclosure. Moreover, it should be recognized that structures and/or elements and/or method operations shown and/or described in connection with any disclosed form or embodiment of the disclosure may be incorporated in any other disclosed or described or suggested form or embodiment as a general matter of design choice. It is the intention, therefore, to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the claims appended hereto.

Examples

One example is a communication method including establishing, by a first device, a wireless device-to-device connection, receiving, by the first device, one or more core contents of a social network via a wireless network, and transferring, by the first device, the one or more core contents of the social network via the wireless device-to-device connection. The method may also include receiving, by a second device connected to the first device via the device-to-device connection, the one or more core contents of the social network from the first device. The method may also include receiving, by the second device, one or more individual contents of the social network via the wireless network. The method may also include receiving, by the first device, one or more individual contents of the social network via the wireless network, and transferring the one or more individual contents of the social network from the first device to the second device via the wireless device-to-device connection. The wireless network may be a cellular network or a wireless local may be a network (WLAN). The wireless device-to-device connection may be a long term evolution (LTE) device-to-device connection, a Bluetooth device-to-device connection or a Wi-Fi neighbor awareness networking (NAN) connection.

Another example is a communication device including a radio unit configured to connect the device to one or more devices, a non-transitory computer readable storage device including instructions stored thereon, one or more processor(s) to execute the instructions stored on the storage device, causing the device to perform operations of establishing a wireless device-to-device connection, receiving one or more core contents of a social network via a wireless network, and transferring the one or more core contents of the social network via the wireless device-to-device connection. The operations may also include receiving one or more individual contents of the social network via the wireless network, and transferring the one or more individual contents of the social network via the wireless device-to-device connection. The wireless network may be a cellular network or a wireless local may be a network (WLAN). The wireless device-to-device connection may be a long term evolution (LTE) device-to-device connection, a Bluetooth device-to-device connection or a Wi-Fi neighbor awareness networking (NAN) connection.

Another example is a communication device including a radio unit configured to connect the device to one or more devices, a non-transitory computer readable storage device including instructions stored thereon, one or more processor(s) to execute the instructions stored on the storage device, causing the device to perform operations of establishing a wireless device-to-device connection, receiving one or more core contents of a social network via the wireless device-to-device connection. The operations may also include receiving one or more individual contents of the social network via a wireless network. The operations may also include receiving one or more individual contents of the social network via the wireless device-to-device connection. The wireless network may be a cellular network or a wireless local may be a network (WLAN). The wireless device-to-device connection may be a long term evolution (LTE) device-to-device connection, a Bluetooth device-to-device connection or a Wi-Fi neighbor awareness networking (NAN) connection. The device may also include an acceleration component configured to download the one or more core contents of the social network directly via the wireless network upon selection of the acceleration component. The device may also include a timer configured to select the acceleration component after a predetermined period of time. The device may also include a switching component to enable or disable the wireless device-to-device connection. The switching component may be configured to disable the wireless device-to-device connection when a battery power threshold for a battery in the device may be reached.

Another example is a non-transitory computer readable storage device including instructions stored thereon, which when executed by one or more processor(s) of a device, cause the device to perform operations of establishing a wireless device-to-device connection, receiving one or more core contents of a social network via a wireless network, and transferring the one or more core contents of the social network via the wireless device-to-device connection. The operations may also include receiving one or more individual contents of the social network via the wireless network, and transferring the one or more individual contents of the social network via the wireless device-to-device connection. The wireless network may be a cellular network or a wireless local may be a network (WLAN). The wireless device-to-device connection may be a long term evolution (LTE) device-to-device connection, a Bluetooth device-to-device connection or a Wi-Fi neighbor awareness networking (NAN) connection.

Another example is a non-transitory computer readable storage device including instructions stored thereon, which when executed by one or more processor(s) of a device, cause the device to perform operations of establishing a wireless device-to-device connection, receiving one or more core contents of a social network via the wireless device-to-device connection. The operations may also include receiving one or more individual contents of the social network via a wireless network. The operations may also include receiving one or more individual contents of the social network via the wireless device-to-device connection. The wireless network may be a cellular network or a wireless local may be a network (WLAN). The wireless device-to-device connection may be a long term evolution (LTE) device-to-device connection, a Bluetooth device-to-device connection or a Wi-Fi neighbor awareness networking (NAN) connection. The instructions may also include an acceleration component configured to download the one or more core contents of the social network directly via the wireless network upon selection of the acceleration component. The instructions may also include a timer configured to select the acceleration component after a predetermined period of time. The instructions may also a switching component to enable or disable the wireless device-to-device connection. The switching component may be configured to disable the wireless device-to-device connection when a battery power threshold for a battery in the device may be reached.

Another example is a system for communication including a first device for establishing a wireless device-to-device connection, wherein the first device receives one or more core contents of a social network via a wireless network, and transfers the one or more core contents of the social network via the wireless device-to-device connection. The system may also include a second device, connected to the first device via the device-to-device connection, for receiving the one or more core contents of the social network from the first device. The second device may receive one or more individual contents of the social network via the wireless network. The first device may receive one or more individual contents of the social network via the wireless network, and transfers the one or more individual contents of the social network to the second device via the wireless device-to-device connection. The wireless network may be a cellular network or a wireless local may be a network (WLAN). The wireless device-to-device connection may be a long term evolution (LTE) device-to-device connection, a Bluetooth device-to-device connection or a Wi-Fi neighbor awareness networking (NAN) connection. 

1. A communication method, the method comprising: establishing, by a first device, a wireless device-to-device connection; receiving, by the first device, one or more core contents of a social network via a wireless network; and transferring, by the first device, the one or more core contents of the social network via the wireless device-to-device connection.
 2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: receiving, by a second device connected to the first device via the device-to-device connection, the one or more core contents of the social network from the first device.
 3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising: receiving, by the second device, one or more individual contents of the social network via the wireless network.
 4. The method according to claim 2, further comprising: receiving, by the first device, one or more individual contents of the social network via the wireless network; and transferring the one or more individual contents of the social network from the first device to the second device via the wireless device-to-device connection.
 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the wireless network is a cellular network or a wireless local area network (WLAN).
 6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the wireless device-to-device connection is a long term evolution (LTE) device-to-device connection, a Bluetooth device-to-device connection or a Wi-Fi neighbor awareness networking (NAN) connection.
 7. A communication device comprising: a radio unit configured to connect the communication device to one or more devices; a non-transitory computer readable storage device including instructions stored thereon; one or more processor(s) to execute the instructions stored on the storage device, causing the communication device to perform operations of: establishing a wireless device-to-device connection; receiving one or more core contents of a social network via a wireless network; and transferring the one or more core contents of the social network via the wireless device-to-device connection.
 8. The communication device according to claim 7, wherein the one or more processor(s) execute instructions stored on the storage device, causing the communication device to perform operations of: receiving one or more individual contents of the social network via the wireless network; and transferring the one or more individual contents of the social network via the wireless device-to-device connection.
 9. The communication device according to claim 7, wherein the wireless network is a cellular network or a wireless local area network (WLAN).
 10. The communication device according to claim 7, wherein the wireless device-to-device connection is a long term evolution (LTE) device-to-device connection, a Bluetooth device-to-device connection or a Wi-Fi neighbor awareness networking (NAN) connection.
 11. A communication device comprising: a radio unit configured to connect the communication device to one or more devices; a non-transitory computer readable storage device including instructions stored thereon, one or more processor(s) to execute the instructions stored on the storage device, causing the communication device to perform operations of: establishing a wireless device-to-device connection; receiving one or more core contents of a social network via the wireless device-to-device connection.
 12. The communication device according to claim 11, wherein the one or more processor(s) execute instructions stored on the storage device, causing the communication device to perform operations of: receiving one or more individual contents of the social network via a wireless network.
 13. The communication device according to claim 11, wherein the one or more processor(s) execute instructions stored on the storage device, causing the communication device to perform operations of: receiving one or more individual contents of the social network via the wireless device-to-device connection.
 14. The communication device according to claim 12, wherein the wireless network is a cellular network or a wireless local area network (WLAN).
 15. The communication device according to claim 11, wherein the wireless device-to-device connection is a long term evolution (LTE) device-to-device connection, a Bluetooth device-to-device connection or a Wi-Fi neighbor awareness networking (NAN) connection.
 16. The communication device according to claim 11, further comprising an acceleration component configured to download the one or more core contents of the social network directly via the wireless network upon selection of the acceleration component.
 17. The device according to claim 11, further comprising a timer configured to select the acceleration component after a predetermined period of time.
 18. The communication device according to claim 11, further comprising a switching component to enable or disable the wireless device-to-device connection.
 19. The communication device according to claim 18, wherein the switching component is configured to disable the wireless device-to-device connection when a battery power threshold for a battery in the device is reached.
 20. A non-transitory computer readable storage device including instructions stored thereon, which when executed by one or more processor(s) of a device, cause the device to perform operations of: establishing a wireless device-to-device connection; receiving one or more core contents of a social network via a wireless network; and transferring the one or more core contents of the social network via the wireless device-to-device connection.
 21. The storage device according to claim 20, further comprising the operations of: receiving one or more individual contents of the social network via the wireless network; and transferring the one or more individual contents of the social network via the wireless device-to-device connection.
 22. The storage device according to claim 20, wherein the wireless network is a cellular network or a wireless local area network (WLAN).
 23. The storage device according to claim 20, wherein the wireless device-to-device connection is a long term evolution (LTE) device-to-device connection, a Bluetooth device-to-device connection or a Wi-Fi neighbor awareness networking (NAN) connection.
 24. A non-transitory computer readable storage device including instructions stored thereon, which when executed by one or more processor(s) of a device, cause the device to perform operations of: establishing a wireless device-to-device connection; receiving one or more core contents of a social network via the wireless device-to-device connection.
 25. (canceled)
 26. (canceled)
 27. (canceled)
 28. (canceled)
 29. The storage device according to claim 24, further comprising an acceleration component configured to download the one or more core contents of the social network directly via the wireless network upon selection of the acceleration component. 30-38. (canceled) 